My gross Subway sandwich shop experience...
I just had possibly the worst experience inside of a Subway store. I started watching one of the employees who was running the register and was wearing food preparation gloves. The problem was not that she was wearing gloves it was the fact that she constantly went from the register to making sandwiches and never once changed her gloves. Handling money and food with the same gloves.
This disgusted me so much I asked her how many times a day she actually changed her gloves. When I said that she then changed her gloves and then made my sandwich. This really does make me sick that a restaurant would serve people's food this way and I am going to also report them to the New York board of health.
They should be changing gloves after every sandwich, not just when a customer points out that they are wearing dirty gloves. I will most definitely not be going to Subway again because of this one disgusting restaurant. I am sitting here with the sandwich that they made for me and I can't eat it now, I should have got my money back when I was there.
The restaurant in question:
302 W 39th St
New York, NY
couple years, or so, I decided to get a Subway on my way
out of my local Wal Mart store. When I got home and
unwrapped my sandwich, there was a 1/2" dead, black bug
between the wrapper and the sandwich. Obviously, I
threw the whole thing in the trash. I don't want any-
thing from Subway ever again. Grossed my out!!!
561 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10036
#18052
Well.. I'm starting to think that these people who are working in these Subways are trying to stretch things a little too far. This was the last straw for me with this company. It's funny how most of the Subways are now side by side with Dunkin Donuts. Huh.. Anyway, after getting poor customer service and an even more poorly made sandwich. I sent Subway's customer service a pretty long comment. I just threw up in my mouth just thinking of that damn sandwich. I am going to post this on as many websites I can possibly come across.
here is the Email I sent.
Please read all the way through as I take you on a journey I wished had never happened. What do you want me to say? I was hungry as a bum on the street and all I wanted was a Subway sandwich. Was that really too much to ask for?
Let me start off by saying that I've been a fan of Subway for almost 10 years. After the changes to the steak sandwich was made last year. It made me a little sad ( I loved the old style Philly cheese steak ). I no longer ordered the beef. It just wasn't the same. However, I did fall in love with the Italian BMT. It's been filling my tummy since last year. So it was the final straw when I walked into the Subway on 10th Avenue by 42nd Street ( Store#18052 ). I went in and asked for a 12" Italian BMT on Herb & Cheese bread. When I saw the man cutting into the bread and putting back half I repeated myself. At the time I was the only person ordering. One other person was sitting in the far back corner. Surely he'd heard my request. I asked him if he can heat my sandwich before I put on the “fixings” . When he removed the sandwich from the toaster, I could not see any meat. I asked him if he put on all the meat and he lifted the bread to show me this. 2 Slices of Salami, 2 slices of Pepperoni, 2 Slices of ham and 2 slices of Provolone Cheese. Now mind you I asked for a 12" and since he'd cut into the bread before making the sandwich, I had received only one slice of each on a 6" sub. I looked at him and he showed no feelings for making such a poor sandwich. I asked him If he could please make my sandwich right, because at six dollars I could have purchased 2 hero sandwiches with heaps of meat for the same price ( Hero’s are like subs made at deli’s ).
He looked at me with a blank look and asked me what I wanted on it. I looked at him in disbelief and told him lettuce. He reached his hand into the tub but the lettuce was red, almost rust colored from being old. I asked him if he had fresh lettuce and he replied. "This is how it comes". I said forget the lettuce and just give me pickles with mayo and mustard. I paid for my sandwich and walked out saying to myself that I wished I knew where a Quiznos was. That was the first time that name had ever popped into my mind and came out of my mouth. The sandwich left a bad taste in my mouth. I was broken hearted. As I sat eating this thing, all my friends could not believe this was what I got. While some of them told me to just never go there again, I was told by most to go to quiznos because Subway was just slipping like Blimpies.
The thing is that I love subway. It has been a part of my life for almost ten years. It has seen me through living in Minnesota, Florida and here in NYC. Unfortunately, Wednesday, February 21st 2007 has been the last straw of poor customer service for me with your company. Over the years I have shown my loyalty to this franchise only to get slapped in the face with a poorly made sandwich that would have even been shunned upon in a third world country. Thank you for showing me that loyalty means nothing with this company.
I haven't been back to Subway sandwiches since and I am now a faithful follower of Quiznos.
I cook most of my own food these days. What happens to it before I buy it? Cook well, eat well, and be thankful every time your meal doesn't bite you back!
Just today I got the delicious 12" Italian BMT and she put 2 pieces of ham on it. I politely pointed out to her, as I have to do more and more often now, that she was supposed to put 4 pieces of ham on it.
She refused and we went back and forth on it until finally she gave in. Does anyone know how many slices of meat they're supposed to put on the different sandwiches?
I've emailed subway multiple times about this and have never gotten a response.
Sincerely,
Amin
I won't say exactly where I work out here on the internet, but it's true that a lot of us are apathetic about our jobs. We're the lowest rung on the whole ladder, and we have to deal with customers who complain about the ingredients - something that we really don't have any control over. Much of the meat is processed and not what I would call "real."
Asking that employees change their gloves after every sandwich, especially in busier stores (I work in the food court of a mall, for instance) is a bit much. We wash our hands before putting them on, and nobody uses the register or handles money with the same gloves used to make sandwiches. We change them when we use the register, or if we notice a hole in them (which, since we wash our hands before putting them on anyway, isn't that bad). If we took the time to change them after every sandwich, then people would just complain about slow service. You can't win.
My suggestion, as an employee, would be to not eat at Subway. The places just breed apathy in the low-level workers (my spirit's certainly broken), and even if you get the best sandwich "artists," the ingredients are still subpar.
Amin
That doesn't sound too good at all to me and there are a lot of states that do require workers to change their gloves after every sandwich that is made. The company doesn't require it, but the company as a whole really has no control over the individual stores. Each store is independently owned. If a store wanted to clean up their act and show that they were a very clean establishment, they would change gloves all the time and let the customers see that.
the kid behind the counter wasn't even wearing gloves! He had a cut on his finger - and when
I asked him about it, he told me that he had put some "new skin" on it (apparently this is a paint
on band-aide) Yuck! I left and did NOT order a sandwich (assuming that all of the ingredients might
be contaminated) and proptly left.
We operate with strict policies on glove usage, hand washing and food safety/quality. My employees are trained to toss anything out that they wouldn't eat themselves. Stale bread...throw it out. Green tomato..throw it out. Brown lettuce? Throw it out. I even encourage the employees to toss these items infront of the customers, so you all can see that we're concerned about the product we're serving.
If I ever noticed an employee going from the register to the sandwich line, all while wearing the same pair of gloves there would be some retraining and disciplinary action. Subway Policy dictates handwashing/glove usage very clearly. There is no excuse for these types of transgressions.
Please continue to report any findings of this sort to the customer service line (the phone # is on every napkin and bag). Consistent compolaints will only result in HQ getting involved, even if (unfortunately) the owners of the specific stores don't contact you, they will be reprimanded and stand a chance of having their franchise taken from them.
Hopefully, you will consider trying different Subway outlets and realize that not all sites are operated as carelessly as the ones mentioned here.
i can tell you that, we are not aloud to use gloves when using the till, or handling money. we take them off and replace. If a
customers sandwich is not as they require it is sent to "waste" and another is prepared. We don't mind, as it is after all, them who is
paying for the items. As for the lack of filling on the sandwich there are universal requirements for each sandwich, for example every
subway melt has, 2 turkey, 2 ham, 2 cheese and our store personally puts 2 rashers of bacon per 6". BMT for example should have
2 ham, 3 pepperoni, 3 salami, 2 cheese on each 6". and so on. As for brown/red lettuce. I personally work on the fact that, if i
wouldnt eat it then niether is my customer. i have often thrown our lettuce for this reason, or mushy tomatoes, i always throw those.
I've only had one bad experience with subway, and that was because i wasnt asked if i wanted sauce, i wasnt asked about heating or
toasting and the amount of lettuce was poor, it didnt even cover the bread in the slightest, as i work in a store, im really fussy so i
left fussing over it all night to my friends, and i even told the people at my subway about it. We just laughed, because we know we
make good sandwiches.
Good Luck!
Amin
But as u all say no one cares. beware of Va shops on St Johns church rd.
and do not reflect the quality I have come to expect in the States. The cleanliness is OK but the quantity of the ingredients is woefully lacking. I have read with interest
the ingredient lists in previous postings. But although the quantity is called out i.e. 2 cheese,three meat, things like that, it pales in the face of Korean ingenuity.
Two cheese add up to 1/2 ounce of cheese. The meats are the same. The ingredients are sliced so thinly you can see light through them. And this is true of all the Subways
on the Peninsula.
And so I go to the next stall - Taco Bell - and wait in the line there rather than be one of two in the line at Subway. But when I get back I will be back to Subways!
handling your money and your food together is unsanitary, but hardly a reason to boycott the whole chain. Contacting the health department didn't help you, either, since unless the inspector sees it, there's not a thing he can do about it, and I promise you the employees behave differently when he walks in. You could have, however contacted Subway headquarters, which usually makes quite a difference (contact info is on thenapkin and usually on the cups). Also, as a word of advice, I find myself amazed at the complaints that people voice about Subway, when they continue to eat at McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell or basically ANYWHERE where you can't see them prepare your food. I don't know how it is in New York, but where I am, they NEVER wear gloves, so if you're that queasy, I would just eat at home.
I had a BAD feeling when I went in, as there was some girl working, and no one was at the front, and it was not clean, there was lettuce and things all over the place, as clearly there was no manager on duty.
So I had a BAD FEELING when she was putting the meat on, but I ignored it.
I ate the sandwich, and withing a coupld of hours I started to feel naseuous. Within 4-5 hrs, I had a horrible PAIN in my stomach, like a knife. I was going to go to the hospital if it got worse.
Here I am 24 hrs later, and only now is the pain getting less, but its still there.
I only realized later that NONE of the food was covered up. This means the food becomes warm enough to breed bacteria. So when she touches some chicken, and then touches any other food, since the food, like olives are warm, they can breed bacteria like crazy. So any of the veggies can become laced with bacteria, if they are not COVERED.
But these employees are too lazy to take all those covers off when it is not busy.
If you go into ANY type of restaurant, and the food is not covered up and kept really cold, just don't eat it. Any food at room temp for a few hours can be utterly laced with bacteria.
In Subway, they use the same gloves to touch chicken and meat, as they do to grab veggies. So the veggies become contaminated.
If the veggies are allowed to get warm, due to not being covered, than WHAM, you can get seriously ill.
And there is basically NOTHING you can do about it, as its not possible to "prove" they did it. They can suspect it, but that's about it, unless a group of people all get sick.
Does Subway care?
Not really. They leave staff on to save money, and these kids get lazy, and listen to music, and let food get warm, and then we get sick.
I don't know what the solution is, I can't imagine eating at a Subway again, after this pain.
I've only had food poisoning a few times in my life, and this was the 2nd worst.
Also, MOST Subway employees touch the microwave, even the cash, while wearing their gloves. Either they don't care, are tired, or don't know any better. I always have to ASK for fresh gloves, and now I don't think I can eat there again, as they veggies can be contaminated from the chicken, and sitting there for 6 hours, you can have some serious bacteria growth, on tomatoes, on olives, anywhere.
When u see the veggies sitting there i nthe sandwich Unit they are NOT AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. That sandwich unit is a refrigeration unit and I know this because I have posted here before I own stores in Tampa Florida. We are REQUIRED by HQ and health board to have veggies and meats within a certain temperature range and face severe penalties for non compliance. ALSO.....we are supposed to keep the veggies uncovered because the customer is supposedto be able to see the texture and colour of all the items in the unit before selecting them. Keeping veggies and meats uncovered does not sontribute to a temperature change in the items UNLESS the items are filled above the chill line then yes it is possible... Just thought I would clarify and let me know if I CAN BE OF MORE HELP TO YOU
I forgot to bring lunch today and walk by a subway so I thought I would pick up a salad on my way in. I walk in, the girl is at the counter does not even acknowledge my presence. She picks some pieces of lettuce from the counter, moves some trays, without saying a word or looking at me, she walks out of the room. A second woman does the same thing, but this time says "she'll be with you in a minute" as she walks out. I notice the other girl is eating in the back. Finally she comes and makes my salad asks what I want and packages it up. She rings it up and gives me my total. She rings it up as a seafood salad which it was tuna (over charging me by .10 but no big deal). Gives me my money and turns around. I ask for ranch dressing, which she makes a big to do about getting. Finally handing me my bag, I ask for a receipt ( wanted to make sure about the price and call the manager later). She rudely starts pushing numbers and shoves it in my face. I politely ask her who her manager is. She quietly mumbles. I ask her "what?" and she walks away.
I called the headquarters and logged my complaint. I called around noon later to ask for the manager and recounted the story. She said we'll take care of that. NO sorry, no it won't happen again, nothing, thats it. I told her I was very upset with how I was treated. SHe HUNG UP ON ME!!! I called back and asked for the regional managers number (Ihave worked in food service before, so I know how wrongly I was treated). I hear the girl tell her its that woman again and she replies "your kidding, again??" They then hang up on me. I called headquarters again but the number for the regional office is a fax number, and I really hope that was done on accident. The woman was very polite and appologized. THat is all I wanted to hear, a sorry, it won't happen again. Now I wait. Any suggestions? I am furious!!
We put the meat on the top because it's a bit easier to close around the veggies. Sometimes people have asked me to do something else with it and then loaded on the veggies, which usually results in the sandwich falling apart. Hope they enjoyed it.
employees. The franchisees bring this upon themselves, I'm a 17 year old student and paid minimum wage although i'm expected to
open the shop on my own in the mornings and have been left alone for up to 3 hours, with a steady flow of customers it's very
difficult to have everything done for afternoon, let alone to a good standard. Yesterday, upon phoning in sick (for the only time in
the six months i've been there may i add), my manager turned up at my front door. I don't really know the legalitites behind this
but you can say that I was hardly happy. Once he left, I phoned the franchisee, the owner of several stores and he said he "might
have a word with him (the manager)". I was appalled, one of my co workers was asked to qupply my address or "we would both be
fired". Her phone was taken from her so she couldn't contact me incase she was trying to "warn me". I'll be handing in my notice
today and writing to subway HQ. I realise this comment may not be related to the complaints in this post but i do sympathise with
customers and the way they are treated. Just thought I should let you know that in subway, employees are treated equally as poorly
as customers. Perhaps if the franchisee decided to raise people's wages beyond minimum wage to the penny, and made them
feel more valued, the staff would be more inclined to do their job properly.
I just wanted to say that not all Subway stores are like the ones all of you have experienced. My folks work very hard to run their franchise right. They both work in the store themselves. It makes a real difference when the owners actually run the stores, and they have one of the top-rated stores in their region, as a result. Having said this, they also realize that not all stores are run as well as their's, and those poorly operated stores give the franchise a bad name. My folks make a point of visiting other Subway stores in their travels, to see how they compare, and I can tell you that even they have even reported some of the stores they've visited for violations of standard practices and food safety issues.
The reason I found this website is because I visited a store in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio this evening, and the sandwiches were made with only four slices of turkey, even though I pointed out that they should have six. The counter person asked someone in the back, who I know was the owner's daughter, and she also said the sandwiches get only four slices of meat. I wasn't going to argue with them, as to how I knew they were shorting me. I came home and called my parents to ensure that I was correct, on the ingredient count, but they weren't home. Thank you to the Subway owner above for providing confirmation of what I was sure I knew - I was shorted. This was the second time, at this same store. I'm visiting the corporate website now, to file a second complaint against them. It's too bad, because otherwise they run a great store. It's very clean, quick/friendly service, and high-quality/fresh food.
I urge anyone who has an unresolved problem with a Subway store to file a complaint on the Subway website. They DO contact the stores regarding complaints and, although I hesitate to be specific, there are financial disincentives for stores to receive complaints.
J.
AMIN
I own a sanswich shop and we wear gloves, but to change gloves between each meat is crazy. You need to worry more about what is actually IN your meat you eat.
Ever wonder what happens to your food behind closed doors? That can be alot more gross.
As for employee's who do stupid unsanitary things, if i was running the store they would be gone!!(fired).
Here the health dept. says you don't even have to wear gloves(that's a Subway policy.). As some have said the owners are not there and some of the managers are nothing but immature kids themselves. They need to get some older more experienced people running there stores. And pay them decent. When the owners are paying there manger just a little bit more than there paying the line people your going to get poor service.
I see the same problem at the store I work at but I'm just an average joe trying to make a buck!
the end.
Another thing is, the poster said that he contacted SUBWAY's head office and they told you that they forwarded the message to the owner. In fact they did. Subway forwards everything, good and ESPECIALLY bad to the owner of the shop you refer to. If in fact there is a bad comment, SUBWAY has auditors that come through each month and observe everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. They start with the water and dishes in the sink and end with the food and money in the cash register. If you really filed a report that bad about the SUBWAY, they sent the auditor out to the Subway, without telling them that they were coming, and the auditor made sure that the restaurant was aware of the problem, and they were in fact written out of complience. Now being written out of complience doesn't mean that you will get shut down, but if a store gets two, they will be warned, and after three they will be shut down.
Every Subway is not the same. Just because you had a bad experience at one doesn't mean that you will have that same experience at all the others. Also, just because there are a few other people with bad experiences that posted on here doesn't meana anything because there are millions others that do not have problem. Another thing that I noticed was you said that some of your friends had those same problems, did you ever think that it was just that SUBWAY that you all visit, maybe you need to explore your options, try other SUBWAY's. Honestly I think it's is kind of wrong to try and say that SUBWAY in general is a bad place just because you had a bad experience at one shop.
Oh yeah to that person that said that they got a 12" BMT and only got two peaces of ham, according to our auditor, that is all you are susppose to get.
I work for Subway on the corporate side and visit many stores a month. And I can tell you that hand washing is something that I take very seriously. I make sure to train and re-train staff when it comes to proper hand washing procedures. I am sorry that I do not handle Manhattan because I see many many stores that need improvement in more then a few areas. In the end its the owner that wants to do well and properly train his staff to do the right thing when it comes to daily operations. And if he fails to do so then Subway and myself do everything we can to get that owner out of the Subway system. And then get a new owner in that will do a far better job.
Please do not generalize the entire brand because of some stores that are poorly operated. We care about the customer and how our products are prepared and served on a daily basis.
in NYC 8 slices of turkey on a 12 inch/4 on a six inch.
If you want more information please e-mail me back and I will gladly help you out.
Since ALL the meat at Subway, Quizno's, Blimpy's is Ready-to-Eat (NOT raw) there is no cross-contamination from ham to turkey to fish - whatever. The important thing is "diesaes-causing microorganisms" - this is the key, regarding gloves touching coins, then ham OR vegetables - that is bad, obviously.
Also, "...I know that the shops are independently owned, but it is some of these shops that are giving Subway a bad bad name.
..." I agree with the 2nd part, but Subway shops are NOT independantly owned, they are franchises - you really don't OWN a franchised store. PizzaHut has Corporate stores, Franchise Stores, Stand Alone (owned), but not Subway, Not White Hen, not White Castle, etc. Denny's have ONLY corporate owned stores.
And if you get food poisoning (called botchalism) you proabably wouldn't get out of the hospital for at least 14 days, and THEN you would MIGHT start to feel well enough to go home, and then with at least 2 more weeks of out-patient care. Food poisoning will first cause nearly instant de-hydaration, for which the only "cure" is water, but not too much, which of course will be necessary to dilute the inevitble VOMITING. Food poisoning does NOT cause diahrea, certain FOODS themselves might and do. If anything, food-poisoning will cause constipation! Also, botchalism takes 24 hours to germinate - not 20 minutes or even a few hours - checmicals that accidently may get into food would cause this instan type reaction - usually soapy dish water (And by the way, if that were to have happened, it was almost certainly deliberate, because it is damned hard to do accidently due to the amount required - sopay water was a common wasy for cold war spies to get someone to quickly vomit or get bad cramps, usually instant diahrea, depending on the concentraion and type of soap).
74.137.161.199
88.237.219.112
If there is a Jimmy Johns near where you are I encourage you to taste the difference. I still eat subway when I want breakfast, but most other meals are JJ. Yep, we slice the meat in the morning/afternoon (and the beef stinks, but it looks and tastes like a really juicy prime steak.) We slice the provolone cheese (nope nothing else but Provolone). The only thing we don't do is make the bread from scratch, that we get frozen. We slice ALL the veggies we use right there, you can watch if you like (I would recommend swim mask with nose plug for the onions.) WE ONLY HAVE LETTUCE, TOMATO, ONION, CUCS, and HOT CHerry Peppers on our menu, MAYO, Dejon Must, or vinigrette. Keep it simple, keep it fresh and forget the hot sandwichs or the salads.
BTW, for all those getting the hot sandwiches, have them "temperature" the product for you before you eat it-- if its under 150 degrees DONT tempt fate! Many germs (e-coli, listeria,etc) are not heat sensative anymore.
24.118.108.180
My question for you is; have you ever been in the back of a burger king, mc donalds, or chick-fil-ey? I have. they use about two gloves ALL DAY and scratch themselves...wherever they want *shiver*
I'm staying with Subway.
65.13.130.20
216.78.60.1
Does anyone know how I can get in touch with Amin? Please provide his email address!! Thanks :D
The Subway Location of the store you are talking about.
The Problem you are having.
Thanks,
The Admin
I'm pretty appalled myself at some of the stories but i really think that either those locations are terrible, or my town has exceptional stores.
Also, i urge you to check out the actual subway site, it should show the 'formulas' for sandwiches. A lot of you would be pretty shocked at what you 'pay for' ie: Footlong sandwiches in reality should only come with 6 slices of olives, 6 pieces of onion, etc etc. Its extremely skimpy, so when you think someone is just trying to screw you over with small portions they are really just following subway standards. I myself think thats absurd, 6 slices of olives is ludicrous and we do our part to find middle ground.
205.202.39.162